The present invention is generally related to fluid infusion, and more particularly, to a communication system and method for use in identification before the delivery of intravenous fluids.
Physicians and other medical personnel apply intravenous (“IV”) infusion therapy to treat various medical complications in patients. IV infusion therapy typically involves infusing medical fluids, such as medications, drugs, or nutrients, from a fluid supply or container, such as a bag or bottle, through the tube of a fluid administration set to a cannula inserted into a patient's blood vessel.
In a typical facility, a physician enters an order for medication for a particular patient. This order may be handled either as a simple prescription slip, or it may be entered into an automated system, such as a physician order entry (“POE”) system. The prescription slip or the electronic prescription from the POE system is routed to the pharmacy where the order is filled. Typically, the prescribed medication is prepared by a pharmacist and added to a bag or bottle at a pharmacy. A pharmacist also typically identifies the contents of the bag and the patient for whom the bag is intended with a paper label that is attached to the bag and in some cases by other means, such as, for example, a bar code or magnetic device, or by use of a radio frequency (“RF”) signal interactive device such as a radio frequency identification device (“RFID”) tag. The prepared medication is then delivered to a nurse's station for administration to the patient.
For safety reasons and in order to achieve optimal results, the medical fluid is often administered over a period of time in accurate amounts as prescribed by the physician and in a controlled fashion by using an infusion pump. Infusion pumps operate by displacing the fluid in the tube of a fluid administration set to move fluid from the fluid container through the tube and into the patient. The infusion pump is programmed by an operator such as a nurse or other medical personnel, with operating parameters to achieve the administration of the medication as prescribed by the physician. Such operating, or pumping, parameters are medication and patient specific. That is, the pumping parameters are selected based on the particular medication prescribed and the specific patient for whom they are intended. It is the nurse's responsibility to match the prescribed medication with the correct patient and with the properly programmed pump.
Hospitals and other institutions continually strive to provide quality patent care. Medical errors, such as when a patient receives the wrong medication or receives the correct medication at the wrong time or in the wrong dosage, are significant problems for all health care facilities. In the administration of medication, focus is typically directed to the following five “rights” or factors: the right patient, the right drug, the right route, the right amount, and the right time. The nurse aims to ensure that these “rights” are accomplished. Systems and methods seeking to reduce medical errors should also take these five “rights” into consideration.
Medical infusion pumps have advanced greatly over the years and permit more precise infusion control resulting in much better treatment for patients. Doctors are more assured that the quantities and rates of medication that they prescribe for their patients can be delivered to the patients accurately by infusion pumps. However, there remains a continuing concern that the right drug is matched to the right pump, and that the operating parameters (concentration, schedule, etc.) are correctly programmed into the right pump.
In some cases, a single patient may be prescribed multiple simultaneous infusions of different medications, sometimes four or more, which requires multiple infusion pumps that typically are programmed differently. In such cases, there will also be multiple administration sets each with its own fluid conduit or tube to be connected with the patient. Where there are multiple infusion conduits present, there is a concern that a fluid conduit may be mounted to the wrong infusion pump and the associated medication delivered under incorrect pumping parameters. As an example, where multiple infusion pumps are located side by side, or above and below each other, or where a multi-channel pump is used, the multiple fluid sources may be suspended immediately above each pump or pump channel and may become intertwined, thus making it difficult to select the correct fluid conduit for the particular pump or channel. Where a more dense infusion pump environment exists, it is important to be sure that the correct medical fluid conduits are being mounted to the correct pump or channel.
Prior attempts have been made to assure that the right medication is administered to the right patient through the right pump. Patient identification, medical fluid identification, infusion pump identification, and caregiver identification have been achieved electronically through the use of bar code tags, in some cases RFID (“Radio Frequency IDentification”) tags or devices, and by other means. In these systems, an operator such as a nurse uses a bar code or RFID reader connected to the pump to read the tags to automatically program the pump and to verify that the medical fluid identification matches the patient identification.
Even though the foregoing have provided significant advances in the art to avoid medication errors and have reduced the likelihood of medication errors, there still exists some risk that an incorrect fluid container may become mounted to a pump or pump channel. Stated differently, there still exists some risk that a fluid container may become connected to the wrong pump or pump channel. For example, the nurse could possibly scan the tag of the correct container, but become distracted and mount the conduit of the administration set connected to the container to the wrong pump channel. Even if the nurse does not become distracted, the various fluid conduits in a multiple fluid infusion may be difficult to distinguish from one another and tracing the fluid conduit associated with the right container may become burdensome, especially where the fluid conduits have become tangled with each other. In such a case, the nurse may inadvertently choose the wrong fluid conduit to install in the pump even after identifying the correct fluid container.
In one attempt to correctly link the fluid conduit with the right pump, a data bus composed of wires is embedded in or attached to an IV line for linking a tag reader located adjacent an IV bag's information tag to a data port of a pump unit. However, this system does not provide a communication path that includes a link between the patient identification tag and the pump unit to be sure that the bag is connected to the right patient. It would be advantageous to provide a system that includes a complete communication path between the patient, the pump, and the fluid container. It would also be advantageous to provide a system that does not require the use of additional equipment such as wires and connectors that must be assembled together or a separate tag reader that must be located adjacent an information tag to provide a communication path. Nurses are quite busy already and adding the duty of connecting wires together would make their jobs even busier.
Additionally, some record-keeping systems in healthcare facilities do not provide for instantaneous update of a patient's medication administration record (“MAR”) when an infusion has been administered. Consequently, there exists the possibility that a healthcare worker may believe that the patient has not received his or her infusion and give the infusion a second time. Therefore, it would also be advantageous to provide a system that captures infusion information and automatically updates the patient's medication administration record.
Hence, those skilled in the art have recognized that a need still exists for a system and method to more accurately ensure that the correct fluids are infused into the patient at the correct pumping parameters. In particular, it would be desirable to have a system and method that provide for accurate and efficient communication between a medical fluid container, an infusion pump, and a patient for verifying that the right medication is delivered to the right patient at the right operating parameters. A further need has been recognized for a system and method that automatically updates the patient's medication administration record. The present invention fulfills these needs and others.